Coridon's song For Courts are full of flattery, Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. But oh, the honest countryman Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. His pride is in his tillage, His horses, and his cart: Our cloathing is good sheep-skins, Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. Then care away, etc. The ploughman, tho' he labour hard, Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. No emperor so merrily Does pass his time away: To recompense our tillage, Heigh trolollie lollie, loe, etc. The cuckow and the nightingale Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. And with their pleasant roundelays Then care away, etc. This is not half the happiness The countryman enjoys; Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. PISCATOR. Well sung, Coridon, this song was sung with mettle; and it was choicely fitted to the occasion: I shall love you for it as long as I know you. 1 would you were a brother of the angle; for a companion that is cheerful, and free from swearing and scurrilous discourse, is worth gold. I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning; nor men, that cannot well bear it, to repent the money they spend when they be warmed with drink. And take this for a rule: you may pick out such times and such companies, that you make yourselves merrier for a little than a great deal of money; for 'Tis the company and not the charge that makes the feast'; and such a companion you prove: I thank you for it. But I will not compliment you out of the debt that I owe you, and therefore I will begin my song, and wish it may be so well liked. THE ANGLER'S SONG As inward love breeds outward talk, Use tennis, some a mistress court: But these delights I neither wish, Who hunts, doth oft in danger ride; The Angler's song The Angler's song Who uses games shall often prove Is fetter'd in fond Cupid's snare: I care not, I, to fish in seas, Fresh rivers best my mind do please, In civil bounds I fain would keep, And when none bite, I praise the wise Where, which is in no other game, I therefore strive to follow those W. B. CORIDON. Well sung, brother, you have paid The your debt in good coin. We anglers are all be- reckoning holden to the good man that made the song; come, hostess, give us more ale, and let's drink to him. And now let's every one go to bed, that we may rise early: but first let's pay our reckoning, for I will have nothing to hinder me in the morning; for my purpose is to prevent the sun-rising. PETER. A match. Come, Coridon, you are to be my bed-fellow. I know, brother, you and your scholar will lie together. But where shall we meet to-morrow night? for my friend Coridon and I will go up the water towards Ware. PISCATOR. And my scholar and I will go down towards Waltham. CORIDON. Then let's meet here, for here are fresh sheets that smell of lavender; and I am sure we cannot expect better meat, or better usage in any place. PETER. 'Tis a match. Good-night to every body. PISCATOR. And so say I. THE FOURTH DAY PISCATOR. Good-morrow, good hostess, I see my brother Peter is still in bed. Come, give my scholar and me a morning drink, and a bit of meat to breakfast: and be sure to get a dish of meat or two against supper, for we shall come home as hungry as hawks. Come, scholar, let's be going. The VENATOR. Well now, good master, as we walk kinds of towards the river, give me direction, according to your promise, how I shall fish for a Trout. Worms PISCATOR. My honest scholar, I will take this very convenient opportunity to do it. The Trout is usually caught with a worm, or a minnow, which some call a penk, or with a fly, viz. either a natural or an artificial fly: concerning which three, I will give you some observations and directions. And, first, for worms. Of these there be very many sorts: some breed only in the earth, as the earth-worm; others of, or amongst plants, as the dug-worm; and others breed either out of excrements, or in the bodies of living creatures, as in the horns of sheep or deer; or some of dead flesh, as the maggot or gentle, and others. Now these be most of them particularly good for particular fishes. But for the Trout, the dew-worm, which some also call the lob-worm, and the brandling, are the chief; and especially the first for a great Trout, and the latter for a less. There be also of lob-worms, some called squirrel-tails, a worm that has a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail, which are noted to be the best, because they are the toughest and most lively, and live longest in the water; for you are to know that a dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch nothing, compared to a lively, quick, stirring worm. And for a brandling, he is usually found in an old dunghill, or some very rotten place near to it, but most usually in cow-dung, or hog's-dung, rather than horse-dung, which is somewhat too hot and dry for that worm. But the best of |